Woman Rams Vehicle Outside Walter Reed Hospital

BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — A Virginia woman was in custody Tuesday after police say she crashed her car into another vehicle, then tried to ram into a security officer, in a puzzling confrontation outside the entrance of Walter Reed hospital. The civilian security officer fired a shot at the woman’s car, but she was not injured, police said.

Angela Akosua Cobbold of Manassas drove away after the shots were fired and crashed her car into a nearby construction zone, where she was taken into custody, police said. The officer suffered minor injuries, apparently when he used his baton to smash out a window in the woman’s car.

Cobbold, 27, was being treated and was not immediately charged, police said.

A half-hour before the crash at the hospital in Bethesda, Md., police in nearby Virginia doing radar enforcement clocked Cobbold’s black Mitsubishi traveling 93 mph on Interstate 66. Police alerted officials in Maryland to the speeding car, which at 11:50 a.m. made a U-turn in front of the security gate at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Officers who approached the car also said they observed Cobbold “biting or attempting to eat a bar of soap,” said Capt. Paul Starks, a Montgomery County police spokesman. But officers weren’t able to stop or engage her before she crashed into another car and headed back onto the street.

Police say Cobbold then drove back toward the hospital entrance and refused to roll down her window as an officer approached her car. The officer used his baton to break the rear driver’s side window, at which point Cobbold backed up and rammed her car into a marked cruiser, then across the grass and into the sidewalk. She then directed her car toward another officer, who shot once at the car, police said.

Many questions remained Tuesday afternoon, including why Cobbold was apparently biting on soap or what led to the confrontation. It was also not immediately clear whether she had a lawyer. A phone listing could not immediately be located.